Hands-on, took the big leap now

KV Prasad
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 23

The announcement of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s appointment as a Congress general secretary was slipped in this morning in the most unassuming manner — an official communication. It set the news wires burning with TV channels scrambling to decode the big development, social media on the roll and  political leaders, on either side of the divide, reacting on predicted lines.

Unlike the summer of 2004 when the Congress called a press conference on a Sunday to declare the formal entry of Rahul Gandhi into politics as the Lok Sabha candidate from Amethi, his  sister was not ushered in with a similar hype.

For one, Priyanka probably did not need such a grand entry for she is already the behind-the-scenes brains that the party trusts and has been active since 1998-99 when her mother Sonia Gandhi took over the party reins. Priyanka was her constant companion, especially during the Lok Sabha elections, managing affairs first in Amethi and then also in Rae Bareli. Since then, she has been active in Uttar Pradesh and is credited to be well-versed with the organisation.

The question is why did Priyanka choose to take over a formal role in the party and why now? The first is that having been around her mother first and brother later, she began to step up her hands-on role after Rahul took over as AICC president. So it was a question of coming to the fore and taking responsibility in a state where the party is at its all-time low in terms of representation in the Lok Sabha and with a less than honorable presence in the state Assembly. 

As for the timing, it can be argued either way. But as Martin Luther King once remarked —  time is neutral, it is what people make of it. Yet, with the BJP seeking to give its best shot to repeat the 2014 performance amid regrouping of forces opposed to it, the UP Congress too needed a leader around whom they could rally. Priyanka's presence should galvanise Congress workers. She fits in the role, playing tandem with another young but experienced Jyotiraditya Scindia under the overall stewardship of party chief Rahul Gandhi and patron Sonia Gandhi.

Questions that it reinforces the BJP charge of the move being a shining example of dynastic politics cannot be wished away. But the Congress has already shown it is not shying away from the battle or being apologetic about it.